Former President Barack Obama bla*sted President Donald Trump’s handling of the pan*emic, his response to rac!al unrest, and his fundamental unfitness for the job during a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday for Joe Biden, his former vice president.
“Donald Trump isn’t suddenly going to protect all of us,” Obama said. “He can’t even take the basic step to protect himself.”
Speaking in front of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex with less than two weeks until Election Day, Obama delivered a sweeping conde-mnation of Trump.
“We literally left this White House a pan*emic playbook,” Obama said. “We don’t know where that playbook went. They probably used it to prop up a wo-bbly table or something.” Obama also pointed out Trump’s so-called bank account in China.
“Listen, can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for re-election? Do you think Fox News might’ve been a little concerned about that? They would’ve called me Beijing Barry,” he said. Obama also urged Bl-ack men, progressives, and other voters not to sit out the Nov. 3 election.
“This election requires every single one of us to do our part. What we do these next 13 days will matter for decades to come,” Obama said at a drive-in rally of about 300 cars. He later wa-rned: “The fact that we don’t get 100 percent of what we want right away is not a good reason not to vote.”
Obama was introduced by Charles “Charlie Mack” Alston, the entertainment industry and Philadelphia community leader, and his daughter, India Alston, who at 13 started a clothing line to raise funds and awareness for Bla-ck Lives Matter.
Specifically ta*geting voters who might be d!sillusioned, Obama offered a defe-nse of the nation’s decency and personal validation that Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, can live up to it.
“America is a good and decent place, but we’ve just seen so much nonsense and noise that sometimes it’s hard to remember,” he said. “I’m asking you to remember what this country can be. … I’m asking you to believe in Joe’s ability and Kamala’s ability to lead this country out of these dark times and help us build it back better.”
Obama pu-lled up to the Hank Gathers Youth Access Center Wednesday afternoon to speak to Bla-ck male leaders including Philly Congressman Dwight Evans, along with other political, nonprofit, and local business leaders.“I am so confident in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris surrounding themselves with people who are ser!ous, who know what they’re doing, who are representative of all people — not just some people — and us being able to then d!g ourselves out of this h-ole,” Obama said.
The Biden campaign said in a statement that North Philadelphia is still dealing with the impa-cts of redl!ning, structural racism, poverty, unemployment, and g*n v!olence. The meeting will address those issues and getting out the vote in this election. Wednesday’s drive-in rally was the first time back in Philadelphia for Obama, who spoke in the city’s Museum of the American Revolution during the virtual Democratic National Convention earlier this year.
This Article First Published On NBCPHILADELPHIA